SAR 80

History

In the late 1960s, the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) adopted the AR-15 as their main service rifle. Due to difficulties in obtaining the rifles from the United States, the Singaporean government purchased a license to domestically manufacture the M16 rifle, which was then designated the M16S1. It was introduced in 1967. Despite this restriction, around 10,000 M16S1s were reportedly sold to Manila without meeting approval from Washington DC. Other sales were made to Thailand, which was allowed to proceed with reluctance from DC due to pressure from Thai officials due to concerns on whether Bangkok can assure Washington DC that those M16s won't be sold to another country without permission.

The domestic rifle requirements were not sufficient to allow Chartered Industries of Singapore (CIS, now Singapore Technologies Kinetics) to economically maintain operations at its rifle factory. Export sales of the M16S1 were not a viable option. Due to the requirements of the license agreement, CIS had to request permission from Colt and the US State Department to allow any export sale, which they rarely granted. The only time Singapore received permissions is for export sales to Thailand in 1972.

Development

In the early 1970s, Sterling Armaments Company engineers had developed their own 5.56 mm rifle design, the Light Automatic Rifle (LAR), but this had been shelved when Sterling acquired a manufacturing licence for the US-designed Armalite AR-18 assault rifle. While Sterling could not legally sublicense the AR-18, their AR-18 derived Sterling Assault Rifle (SAR) was available.

This was based on a refined version of the Light Automatic Rifle, fitted with an AR-18 trigger group. Sterling licensed the SAR design to CIS, who put it into production as the SAR 80.

The successor to this weapon is the SR-88.

Users

• Central African Republic: Seen in the hands of Central African Gendarmerie.
• Croatia: Croatian Army.
• DR Congo Some used by Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda in Democratic Republic of Congo
• Papua New Guinea: Papua New Guinea Defence Force.
• Slovenia: Slovenian Army.
• Somalia: Somalia received SAR 80s during the 1980s. Most seen in the Middle East, heavily modified by various forces fighting in the region. 20,000 from Charted Industries of Singapore 1982-83 {{cite book| last = Ezell| first = Edward| author-link = Edward C. Ezell| title = Small Arms Today| publisher = Stackpole Books| volume = 2nd| edition = | date = 1988
• Sri Lanka
• Zaire

Non state users

• Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam{{cite book| last = Ezell| first = Edward| author-link = Edward C. Ezell| title = Small Arms Today| publisher = Stackpole Books| volume = 2nd| edition = | date = 1988

References

References

1. Small Arms Survey. (2012). "Small Arms Survey 2012: Moving Targets". [[Cambridge University Press]].
2. "CIS SAR-80 – The Armourers Bench".
3. "National service through the years".
4. "Colt IAR for Singapore – MILMAG".
5. https://web.archive.org/web/20120319145629/http://www.thegunzone.com/556dw-7.html
6. "Insightful Look at Singapore's CIS SAR-80: The Anglo-Asian A - Firearms News".
7. https://web.archive.org/web/20120319144818/http://www.thegunzone.com/556dw-6.html
8. The Sterling Years: Small Arms and the Men, James Edmiston, {{ISBN. 1848844379
9. Military Small Arms of the 20th Century, 4th Edition, by Ian V. Hogg and John Weeks, {{ISBN. 0-910676-28-3, Ca 1981
10. (December 2008). "The Central African Republic and Small Arms: A Regional Tinderbox". [[Small Arms Survey]].
11. (12 Apr 2006). "The Yugoslav Wars (1): Slovenia & Croatia 1991–95". [[Osprey Publishing]].
12. Popenker, Max R.. "SAR-80 (Singapore)".
13. Alpers, Philip. (2010). "The Politics of Destroying Surplus Small Arms: Inconspicuous Disarmament". Routledge Books.
14. C. J., CHIVERS. (January 25, 2012). "Somali Pirate Gun Locker: An Oddball Assault Rifle, at Sea". [[The New York Times]].
15. https://www.forgottenweapons.com/slovenian-sar80-sterling-out-simplifies-the-ar-180/
16. (3 August 2019). "SR Podcast No.3- Turkish Glockalikes, Singaporean Rifles in Yemen, and the Sudanese Defense Industry".
17. Smith, Chris. (October 2003). "In the Shadow of a Cease-fire: The Impacts of Small Arms Availability and Misuse in Sri Lanka". Small Arms Survey.
18. Small Arms Survey. (2015). "Small Arms Survey 2015: weapons and the world". [[Cambridge University Press]].